If there’s one thing that’s consistent with the K-12 school protection market, it’s constantly evolving. The existing COVID-19 pandemic is expected to replace security protocols for at least the existing school year, if not more, but the need for security generation will remain constant, from access to an expanding video surveillance presence. While these technologies may be intended to integrate low-priority features such as non-contact and frictionless appliances for access systems, temperature tracking, and people video tracking, schools will still face the challenge of having to do more with less, as the district’s budgets face even larger cuts given the pandemic economy.
Steve Lasky: When comparing a K-12 high school or campus, what do you see in video surveillance responses and how they are incorporated into a general threat protection and mitigation roadmap?
Tom Cook: When comparing a high school or campus from kindergarten through grade 12, it’s vital to know if your assignment includes one or more buildings, as it will indicate the design. It is also imperative to determine whether you will protect individual or multiple perimeters and whether security responses can be combined, as video products will likely work with access control and audio systems. Budgets are a challenge because of the way schools raise funds for allocations. It is vital that schools maintain any investment and design scalable systems that can evolve over time.
The trend is a way to mix capacity and reduce charges, as many services will want to evolve their responses in successive budget cycles. The purpose is to put in place a functional system, knowing that it can be expanded and expanded according to budgets and desires. Multisensor cameras that reposition 4 individual cameras with a single case are a popular way to reduce charges. Cameras that come with audio intercom functions are also ideal for inputs. One of the most important requests we get are our cameras that come with audio investigations, such as detection of damaged glass and shooting. These cameras can particularly reduce the burden of installing all those functions individually. Having an automated reaction that alerts security resource managers (ORS) and managers to those critical occasions allows them to temporarily block and is a key detail of many threat mitigation plans.
Jeffrey Gibson –